Saturday 5th May was a memorable afternoon at the Northern Quarter, Huddersfield. It was an ideal location for presenting photographs by Brian Lawton, the former postman and amateur photographer whose vast and varied collection of pictures captures important decades of Huddersfield’s live music scene. Recently scanned projected images and many more printed and mounted photographs were on view and memories of past musical events were unstoppable.
Help with identifying venues, musicians and occasions continues to add to the value of Brian’s photographs so the details shared by people on Saturday all contribute to build a fuller picture. As Huddersfield’s choral and brass band traditions are well known, the vitality of other live performances, artists passing through and how different performances venues evolved over the years all continue to be great stories to follow. Northern Quarter has completely refurbished the interior of the Builders’ Club (aka Builders Exchange) and the Singing Jenny folk club but a number of people had no difficulty in rolling back the years and remembering what these earlier venues had been like. Ribblebeck and Druce and Jones gave excellent performances and contributed to the splendid atmosphere and people from the Walk and Talk – through Huddersfield’s recent musical past had a chance to catch their breath after a stroll through town on one of the hottest days so far. For those that missed this event, or would like to see more of Brian Lawton’s photographic legacy, the Picturedrome in Holmfirth will be hosting an exhibition on Sunday 13th May 11.00 – 2.30pm during Holmfirth’s Festival of Folk.